Terrorism: we give it free advertisement

March the 22nd 2017- London attacker Khalid Masood mowed down pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, killing four and injuring many others. April the 7th 2017 – Four people killed and at least fifteen injured as a result of a lorry attack in Stockholm. May 22nd – 22people killed and 59 injured after a lone suicide bomber detonated explosives among teenage fans at an Ariana Grande Concert in Manchester Arena.

Doesn’t it scare you how precious life is, yet how easy it’s become for brainwashed beings to cease it from one another? How those reassuring words ‘attacks like that won’t happen here’ are now heard notably less when discussing terror attacks that have taken place abroad. How checking terror threat levels when booking a holiday is now a vital part of the booking procedure – similarly how hearing that tourists have been caught up amidst an attack whilst on holiday is now a regular occurrence.

ISIS appears to be driven by the reputation they’ve built for themselves. Sickeningly, the global coverage their devastating attacks receive feeds their brains with satisfaction. What would happen if the news coverage of these attacks was halved? What would happen if we stopped sharing and spreading their actions of hatred, and instead spread peace? More images of peaceful Muslims. Would they begin to lose motivation for their actions since they’re going unnoticed, meaning the fear they’re currently causing among the world would possibly begin to decline? I recognise that there is minimal logic to my hypothesis, but I do believe that done correctly – interventions in the media could decrease terrorist attacks dramatically. If ISIS no longer had the ability to get the worlds attention through their attacks, jihadis will have less of a chance to be martyred, there wouldn’t be as many attacks for them to claim responsibility for since people would divert their minds to something else.

Working in silence to tackle terrorism could lead to a bolder result. Terrorism has the world in it’s hands – we are helping it to grow. Everyday I see comments regarding terrorism on social media, by discussing this topic, we are almost giving ISIS free advertisement. They want to cause fear, and by spreading the news of violent actions towards innocent victims, we are promoting fear free of charge. We are helping terrorists to achieve exactly what they set out to – power and for the world to feel vulnerable.